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"Apple Homepod: a Speaker to Reinvent Home Music"

Ron Party

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Oh and it’s kinda cool, when a song I really like comes on, to say, “Hey Siri, turn it up.” And even if it’s already loud, and I’m as far away from the HomePod as I can get, she understands me. Every time.

Tim, if I showed your post to my wife, she would not like you very much. She has it in for Siri, who seemingly also has it in for my wife as well. Siri likes to answer her with comments such as "I don't understand what you're asking", and that is the most innocuous of the spectrum Siri's replies. One day I'm expecting Siri to respond to her with cuss words.
 

12B4A

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I did my own loudness compensation measurement of the HomePod @ 1m in my room. There's a nice 100hz null where I was measuring so that's why there's a dip heading down to the basement frequencies. I didn't detect any cabinet rattles by ear while it was going up in sweeps.

HomePod Loudness Compensation.jpg
 

Phelonious Ponk

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I am impressed. It takes a company like Apple to set the hifi industry's ass on fire. Why the heck are they still making passive speakers?

Is it stable at high volumes? Does the thing rattle or shift when you play music with heavy bottom end?

Also, how do you send flac files to this thing?

I will probably wait to see if they make a larger version that goes lower than 40 Hz, ideally (but unlikely) without all this Siri stuff on it.

Yeah, it’s stable, even at maximum volume. It’s quite heavy for its size. No idea about flac files, but I don’t use them. I wouldn’t expect a larger version. Connectivity to a subwoofer, maybe, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one either. Apple seems to be out to bring high quality home audio to the headphone generation. I don’t think they’re looking to sell to the audiophile and home theater crowds. The Siri stuff is kinda cool. I don’t really see myself dictating text messages or automating my lights, but it’s nice to be able to turn it up or down without grabbing a remote. And as a free benefit, you get a super high-quality speaker phone.
 

Phelonious Ponk

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I did my own loudness compensation measurement of the HomePod @ 1m in my room. There's a nice 100hz null where I was measuring so that's why there's a dip heading down to the basement frequencies. I didn't detect any cabinet rattles by ear while it was going up in sweeps.

View attachment 10590

No, I don’t think the HomePod is going to rattle, it’s a brick. Now, the piece of furniture it’s sitting on is a different question I can feel the bass vibrate through my dining room table. I may find myself something very dense to sit it on, see if that tightens up the bass even more...though the DSP is probably correcting that as well.
 

Purité Audio

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Does it only connect via ‘airplay’ is there provision to use two as a stereo pair?
Keith
 

12B4A

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No, I don’t think the HomePod is going to rattle, it’s a brick.

As one youtube comment said, it's built like a tank...if your tank is made of plastic and adhesive. The drawstring cloth bag cover construction is unusual.

 

Phelonious Ponk

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As one youtube comment said, it's built like a tank...if your tank is made of plastic and adhesive. The drawstring cloth bag cover construction is unusual.


I’m ok with plastic. If the thing was metal, it wouldn’t weigh like a brick, but like a 72 Les Paul. The utter lack of repairability is an annoying Apple hallmark, but their stuff does seem to last. I’ve owned a bunch of it, only broken one iPad. Well, I drowned it, actually.
 

RayDunzl

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mpm

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I’m ok with plastic. If the thing was metal, it wouldn’t weigh like a brick, but like a 72 Les Paul. The utter lack of repairability is an annoying Apple hallmark, but their stuff does seem to last. I’ve owned a bunch of it, only broken one iPad. Well, I drowned it, actually.

I've owned a lotta loudspeakers over the decades, and done all the research I could muster, and still maintain my day job.
After three days of near constant listening ... the HomePod is really something.
Weird thing: expectation bias: tiny little football, it can't be doing this. ?
Might build a big floor-stander frame, wrapped in grill cloth, to encase it.
 
OP
Cosmik

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Stereo, outside of headphones, has been on life support for awhile. It has finally been well-replaced.
I'm sure you're right. I think that very few people ever heard stereo at its best, and for most people it was a kind of spacey effect with the bonus that, for the early hard-panned stuff, it was the first time anyone had heard recorded music without everything munged together with intermodulation distortion. For most people it won't be missed, because they never really knew what it could sound like. I don't think they'll sell many stereo pairs of these things.
 

Phelonious Ponk

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I've owned a lotta loudspeakers over the decades, and done all the research I could muster, and still maintain my day job.
After three days of near constant listening ... the HomePod is really something.
Weird thing: expectation bias: tiny little football, it can't be doing this. ?
Might build a big floor-stander frame, wrapped in grill cloth, to encase it.

I know. If I look st it, it sounds smaller.
 

mpm

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Try: Sting > Brand New Day > A Thousand Years.
Tell the little love bird to do it 100%.
She might be flat to around 40Hz, according to those who've measured her, but she doesn't stop there.
 

Phelonious Ponk

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I'm sure you're right. I think that very few people ever heard stereo at its best, and for most people it was a kind of spacey effect with the bonus that, for the early hard-panned stuff, it was the first time anyone had heard recorded music without everything munged together with intermodulation distortion. For most people it won't be missed, because they never really knew what it could sound like. I don't think they'll sell many stereo pairs of these things.

I’ll buy a second when the firmware upgrade comes. I just have to know. Unfortunately, I’ll have to upgrade my Apple TV to use it for movies. But I’ll do that too. And you’re right, back in the day when everybody had stereo, I couldn’t tell you how many homes I visited where one bookshelf speaker was on the top shelf and the other was in the corner behind a potted plant.
 

Sylafari

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Picked mines up from BestBuy this morning.

It sounds way better than the Amazon Echo, the bass is way more prominent, sounds more clear.
Not bad! But not really sure what I'm going to actually use it for.

4GhhPg0.jpg[img\]
 

stunta

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Picked mines up from BestBuy this morning.

It sounds way better than the Amazon Echo, the bass is way more prominent, sounds more clear.
Not bad! But not really sure what I'm going to actually use it for.

Which ATC model is that? Have you compared the homepod with it just for kicks?
 
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